Night Witches: Blood Harpies
Characters * Madeline Pynch: A member of the Blood Harpies * Pending Chapter 1 The police wore their ceramic armor over their black body suits, a material that resembled clear plastic, but tinted black with white and yellow lines. Their helmets cut off their eyes from view and their guns were sleek and slender. They had hacked open the metal door to the apartment and the lights on their helmets shined into the dark apartment revealing a woman in a tank top and panties, red hair, green eyes, and covered in blood as she still held the murder weapon, a large kitchen knife. Even with all the blood there was clear signs of bruising, scars and a black eye. Her victim, a middle aged man, fat, thick beard, had several wounds on his chest and from the look on his face, did not die from the first blow. There was an awkward silence. The police had ordered her to put down her weapon and such, and she just started at them. She was processing, pondering what to do next, what would happen. Then she giggled, then she laughed and she laughed hysterically in more relief than horror before she made a bolt for them. Yet, a knife was no match for several rifles held by anxious trigger fingers. She went down on the floor, in pain, all over. Yet she was happy, that it was over...until she realized they were rubber bullets. There was a trial, and the verdict was clear; guilty. The punishment was simple, execution, by lethal injection. She found herself in that room, a wall of glass between her and...some guy she didn't know. Yet, she was not surprised, her own parents had never been there, why would they be there in the end. She was strapped in, given a feed and the machine was turned on. She could feel it..her consciousness fading... It was to her great terror and surprise when she woke up. She held up on a metal slab, her body bare, and limbs held apart. Some sort of contraption was on her head, keeping it still and she could feel them, needles, in her spine, in her limbs. There was a light over her, yet the rest of the room was dark. "Madeline Pynch..." said a man's voice. The man that came out of the dark, came with a data tablet, and a fold out metal chair that he sat on. He had rich brown skin, topaz eyes, grey hair with red streaks still remaining, and a short but thick beard. He wore a plaid shirt under his lab coat, with a dark green jean pants, and black leather boots, an a rectangular pair of glasses that connected to metal studs on his temples, and were obviously showing him information. "There's a joke in there somewhere, perchance something about a 'punch'?" She just looked at him. "You are free to ask questions..." "Where the f-ck am I?!" she shouted. "Uh...in a secure lab in a secret facility...?" he said, somehow without sass. She gave him a look that could be described along the lines of 'if looks could kill'. "Harsh, and I thought my mother could only do that...kill a man's soul with a stare." "Okay, smart-ass, why am I here...?" "Why else would you, a death row inmate, be in a secure lab in a secret facility...after your execution...?" She looked around and she looked at her self, however much she could, and her expression turned to horror and disgust. "Oh please, it's nothing like that...We're just going to cut you open and implant cybernetics and bio-synthetic hybrid organs..." She gave him a look of 'what the hell'. "I am not...your f-cking toy!" "Perhaps not...not yet, but you will be someone's..." "What...?" "You're a convicted murderer whose execution was carried out. By law...you have no rights..." "So what...you just..cut me open like a pig...?" "Not if you don't want me to..." "I DON'T...!" "Now, now...do make decisions you don't understand..." "What does that mean...?" "You are an attractive young woman...with no rights, and we...we have 'investors' to answer to, investors who are fat, greedy disgusting pigs called politicians and their perverted, spoiled offspring. A chip, will be implanted in your brain, it already was, a 'discipline chip, hence that bald patch you may, or may not have noticed... You only have two options, both...utterly horrible, one filled with violence and highly possibly, an early grave...but it's the only one that let's you keep some small measure of your dignity." She looked at him trying to hold back her tears. He leaned down and examined the look in her eyes...and sighed. "Very well then..." He walked over to the side of the contraption holding her and pressed a button. She gasped, started by the sensation, before she became a prisoner in her own body. "I would like to apologize." The contraption went from vertical to horizontal as a platform bearing surgical tool and droids carrying strange organs in liquid filled came out of the dark on wheels. "You see, due to the nature of these organs, we cannot simply put you out with something." The tears she was trying to hold back, now ran down the sides of her head. Chapter 2 The ships appeared in flashes of light, flashes, wherein space-time had been curved, warped, manipulated, which ever term you would best use. The ships were long vessels, with twin nacelles. Most were the size of a frigate, while others were large carriers closed hangars on their sides. The smaller ones instead had metal disc on their sides on the lower halves This relatively small fleet had jumped into the inner part of the system scattered, and through programming, radar and inter-ship communication, naturally reorganized back into a cohesive unit. They had come to their destination, their instruments told their computers this was the planet they had been sent to find, to deposit their cargo. Inside their ships, their 'cargo' began to stir. The hallways marked by capsules lit up as the cry storage devices began the unpleasant process of 'thawing'. What came next was the noise of several individuals waking up and cursing, followed by the doors opening to allow individuals in power armor, exit from their capsules. Their armor were air tight suits covered with servo mechanics, and life support functions, and armor plating. Their lower legs, chest armor and shoulder armor were somewhat barrel/oval shaped in appearance. Their thighs and lower arms however, had sharp angles. Their helmets seemed flat, wide and with a v shaped black visor. Their armor plating had been painted a crimson red, while black hawks decorated their shoulders and chests. The first unpleasant piece of business was bathroom time, wherein the crew had to get in line and have the waste material in their bodies extracted via their suits, their cybernetic connections and tubing connected to the ship. A process as unpleasant to experience as it sounded. Next came 'breakfast', which consisted of a grey sludge slurped down a tube to their mouths. The more experienced advised that one 'not let it touch your tongue', followed by a mission briefing. This was the routine followed on every ship, for each crew of fifteen to two soldiers in power armor. Their task was 'simple', land on the planet below, and assist the locals in holding off an army. Yet, what that 'army' was, was not made clear, nor could they argue with a recording. This was typical now, they wake up, go through their miserable 'morning routine', be deposited on some planet, fight, if they survived, they got back into their ships and went back to sleep. Was it any wonder they always seemed unhappy? Their ships landed on the concrete landing platforms, depositing the soldiers now armed with their blaster rifles, on the planet. The group, a few shy of a hundred, looked at the place where they had been stationed. The city was clearly once a fortress, built of brick and mortal, but now modified with metal plating upon the outer walls, and space age construction. Upon towers were now unmanned turrets and missile pods. Large wiring was visible, bolted onto the walls, and partially on the ground as it rose and dove beneath the surface. Another thing that did catch their notice were the guards, the people. The guards at the landing zone, wore uniforms, no armor of any kind, just dark green uniforms. They were armed not even with modern rifles, let alone blasters, they were armed with older models, models straight out of some historic conflict like World War 1 or 2. This, this did not breed confidence in the soldiers. An officer, marked by his black vest over his uniform. "I take it, you are the...'blood harpies'...?" "Indeed..." replied one of them. It was then the officer noted the voice, as befuddled by the deep echo of the helmet, he still knew the voice of a woman when he heard it. "Something wrong...?" "Uh, no, I shall take you to the commander..." The soldier turned to the rest of them. "You lot, stay here...and try to not burn down the place...before I get back..." there was some chuckling, the kind that came across as 'no promises'. The super soldier followed the officer through the hallways, mostly of stone brick construction, through doorways clearly to small for her, and through narrow streets, past people in primitive clothing, leather pants, and shirts, blouses and dresses made out of knitted plant fibers. None of the houses seems to have in door heating, nor any form of electricity. Everything sufficiently advance seemed to be used specifically for defense, warfare. In the distance she saw a shuttle land, a large box with several legs sporting rocket engines. She knew what it was, and what it meant, 'armor', mobile weapons like tanks, or smaller vehicles for squad use. Eventually they made their way to the commander's office, an older man with a metal chest piece, and a titled hat, standing over a hologram projector. However, what was truly interesting was 'him'. "Pynch, my dear, how long has it been...?" it was the professor, the one that did the operation, the one that turned her into the super soldier she was now. He was there, sitting next to the desk, one foot across the lap of the other, with a strangely calm smile on his face. "Professor...?" "So you two know each other...?" said the commander. The officer walked over to his side and leaned over, whispering something in his ears. "...I see...'professor' was it...? Do you wish to explain?" "Explain what...?" "I asked for soldiers and you sent me women...?!" The professor looked at him, with a look of annoyance and then turned back to Pynch. "Get out of the suit." "Sir...?" said Pynch. "The commander seems to think he is being assisted by little girls in tin cans..." "Sir..." The sound of air seeping out was heard as the vacuum seals were undone. The back, backpack and all opened up and a handle came down as Pynch keel over. Out of the back she crawel, wearing a very revealing bodysuit black lines with a thin grey film between them, but it wasn't a girl that came out. Pynch's slender feminine frame had gotten taller, and hard define muscle had been packed up. Poking out through her suit were several metal studs, ports on her upper chest, on her temples, arms, legs, back, a large rectangular cod piece. Her hair was short, a military cut and there were small scars all about her face. Her face, even calm, had a look of aggression. "Good, now...pick up the commander..." She walked over to the man and grabbed him by the throat hoisting him off his feet and holding him there with each. The Officer watched in horror, and confusion. "What are you doing?!" shouted the old man "Proving a point..." "What point...?" "That my girls have more balls than you. My corporation did not send 'girls', 'women', 'damsels', we sent killers, soldiers, mercenaries, and we do not take kindly to people insulting our product...Drop him..." She released him to fall on his back. The old man got up, his pride bruised more than his rear. "Now, be a dear and get dressed..." She grumbled, and went back to her suit. She crawled in and with everything in place the back closed down and she leaned up again. The vacuum seals came back online, and she let out a grunt of pain as the suit's circuits reconnected to her nervous system, like several bundles of nerve endings being tripped at once. "Now, you have the fortifications, you have our soldiers, you have our weapons...do you also want our anger...?" "No..." said the commander bitter. "Good, the Blood Harpies will man the walls and other points of importance, Pynch, if you would be so kind, follow..." "Sir..." she said following him out the door. "Monsters...monsters the lot of them..." said the commander. "Monsters..." said the officer "That we need on our side..." "For now..." Outside the two walked up the stairs to one of the walls, were a missile turret had been placed. Directly beneath it was a long metal tube of sorts that dove down into the ground. "Tell me, Pynch, what do you know of this world...?" "It's called Meridia, that's about it..." "Really? I do need to have a word with the one in charge of the briefings...lazy bum. But, yes, this is Meridia." The two looked out towards a large expanse of forest and mountains. Pynch noted the shall lake at the bottom of the hill they stood upon. "This world...was a lost colony, its seed ship crash landed here ages ago and the people reverted to a sort of medieval society. The captain had set himself up as king..." "How did that end...?" "They slit his throat in a cu and the second-in-command took over. Aside the point, a company had found this planet a few decades ago, they obviously took over, taking them back into the Federation, they built a lab out there." "Let me guess...bioweapons..." "Indeed, somehow they have bred an army, and armed it, and of course...larger variants...but in the end, the biggest issue is numbers. Infrared counts them in the thousands, maybe tens of thousands, and we may not have enough shots for all of them..." "So what, our task is to protect this town...?" "No...it's a castle and under city filled with primitives, who until recently thought this planet was flat and the universe cycled around this mud-ball. No, your mission is the utter annihilation of the enemy forces. After the battle you are find their production facility, and see to its destruction. You are defending this city, because they are attacking it, thus its the easiest place to wipe out a large number of them. For this reason, any and all orders given to you by the hicks that do not have anything to do with attacking the enemy...can be ignored at your discretion..." "You really don't care for these people...?" "This planet holds no important resources, not even this system. As for numbers, well...the enemy out numbers these fools in their entirety." He turned and moved towards the stairs "Happy hunting...!" Chapter 3 Madeline returned to her group, and even from the distance she could hear the machinery and mechanics hard at work buildings vehicles and weapons in the space craft that had previously landed. Category:SolZen321 Category:Night Witches Category:Episodes